Open AccessHow can we love what we don’t know?: Children and ecological care
Author(s) -
Robyn Boeré
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
theology in scotland
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 1465-2862
DOI - 10.15664/tis.v28i2.2325
Subject(s) - perspective (graphical) , morality , embodied cognition , environmental ethics , sociology , intersection (aeronautics) , ethics of care , ecology , psychology , social psychology , epistemology , philosophy , geography , cartography , artificial intelligence , computer science , biology
This article addresses the intersection of child ethics and ecological ethics, arguing that ecological care should be viewed as a shared endeavour between children and adults, where each have something to offer to and learn from the other. It is incumbent on adults to foster an embodied, intimate relationship with nature as something that is key to children’s moral development, including their morality of ecological care. This perspective also provides a model of discipleship for adults, characterised as a Rahnerian environmentally-conscious second childhood: by recollecting, observing and mimicking children’s relationship with nature, adults can learn to become like them in their care for the earth.